The Plumbline

Do you have one of those early childhood experiences of going to see the big man in the red suit around the Christmas holidays? We'd wait in the long line, lining up all our 'asks' in our minds, excited to tell him just exactly what we wanted under the tree on Christmas morn. We'd ask for way more than we needed and we'd hope for more than we'd receive! Sometimes I think we approach God telling him that we want ALL these blessings - each and every good thing that he has promised to us, but not really knowing what it is we have need of in our lives at that moment. Most of us do a good job with the "asking" part -- but when it comes to "receiving" we stink - either because we get upset when we don't receive all we thought we'd receive or because we don't really know how to use all we have received! We simply don't believe the provision is true, or we just don't reach out and make the blessing fully ours. I beg you from the b...

1-4  When the Feast of Pentecost came, they were all together in one place. Without warning there was a sound like a strong wind, gale force—no one could tell where it came from. It filled the whole building. Then, like a wildfire, the Holy Spirit spread through their ranks, and they started speaking in a number of different languages as the Spirit prompted them. (Acts 2:1-4) As we begin to explore the happenings on that first New Testament Pentecost day, we will see that the disciples were gathered together in one place.  There is something that happens when God's people gather together.  By the very experience of being together in on accord - no emphasis on differences, no focus on the inadequacies of each other, but simply being content to gather in his name, united in their worship - there is a door opened to heaven like no other time.   Without warning, an event began to transpire that would result in the transformation of his disciples like no other - the inf...